PHILADELPHIA--After playing in the national championship game in 2008, the Penn women’s lacrosse team landed at fifth in the IWLCA Preseason poll. Coming in ahead of Penn was four-time NCAA champ, Northwestern with all but one of the first-place votes. Second-place Syracuse received one first-place vote while Duke and Virginia came in at third and fourth in the standings.

In 2009, Penn will look to defend its Ivy League title as well as maintain its prominence nationally. In 2008, the Quakers won their second consecutive Ivy League title behind an undefeated conference record and advanced to the NCAA national championship game.

The Ivy League leads the poll with four schools in the top-20, including Princeton, (7), Dartmouth (13) and Cornell (16t).

The IWLCA weekly polls will be released on Tuesday mornings throughout the season starting Feb. 24

IWLCA Division I Weekly Poll (Feb. 2, 2009)
1. Northwestern

2. Syracuse

3. Duke

4. Virginia

5. Penn

6. Maryland

7. Princeton

8. Georgetown

9. North Carolina

10. Boston University

11. Notre Dame

12. Vanderbilt

13. Dartmouth

14. New Hampshire

15. Johns Hopkins

16t. James Madison

16t. Cornell

18. Stanford

19t. Denver

19t. Towson

Also receiving votes: Boston College, George Mason, Loyola, Ohio State, Penn State, Richmond, William & Mary, Yale